Lot 179: Diana and her nymphs in a cave

Adriaen van Nieulandt I (Antwerp 1585/7-1658 Amsterdam)
Diana and her nymphs in a cave
signed and dated 'Adriaen van Nieuland: Fecit: a .1657.' (lower centre)
oil on panel
82.7 x 113.4 cm.

Anonymous sale; Christie's, Amsterdam, 6 May 1998, lot 138, where purchased by the present owner.

Christie’s charges a premium to the buyer on the Hammer Price of each lot sold at the following rates: 29.75% of the Hammer Price of each lot up to and including €5,000, plus 23.8% of the Hammer Price between €5,001 and €400,000, plus 14.28% of any amount in excess of €400,000. Buyer’s premium is calculated on the basis of each lot individually.
J. Briels (see Vlaamse Schilders in de Noordelijke Nederlanden , 1987, pp. 67-8), states that Van Nieulandt belonged to the group of Flemish immigrants who settled in Amsterdam in the first years of the 17th century. Painting was a marginal career, as he was chiefly active as a dealer. In the 1640's he adopted a pastoral taste, and was influenced by the Utrecht painter Cornelis van Poelenburch. In the 1650's his pastoral scenes were placed in grottos as in the present lot; see also his picture of Diana and Callisto in the Herzog Anton-Ulrich Museum, Brunswick (see R. Klessmann, Die Holländischen Gemälde , 1983, p. 154, no. 215, illustrated).